Home is where the heart is
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day five hundred and fifty: Now that it's been decided, Sue needs to see if Brittany is on board with living with Joe, too.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 26th cycle. Now cycle 27!_

* * *

><p><strong>"Home is Where the Heart Is"<br>Sue & Brittany  
>Sylvesters Series #22 (sequel to "How do you solve a problem like Brittany?") <strong>

She'd made the arrangement with Joe, and that was one thing. It had not been made without a great deal of personal… struggle. But now, it had been decided… only it was just part of it. Now she had to tell her; now she had to see how she would react. And of all the responses, the one she was afraid of was that she might like it so much over there that she wouldn't want to come home anymore… not her home. Sure, she could always use that room as a trophy display… it would be glorious. But… it wouldn't be worth a damn to her, because what would be the point, if she didn't have her daughter?

She wasn't usually one for regrets. She assumed her actions, didn't pretend being anything but what she was. Maybe she wasn't going to win any prizes for 'mother of the year,' but in all her years as an educator, there wasn't one who mattered as much, that she was as proud of. They may have thought all these things about her, but she knew how marvellous that girl could be, and she knew that of the two of them she could end up so much further than she ever went… She hoped she knew that, and she hoped… that it would be enough to make her stay.

She arrived home from her meeting with Joe, unsure whether Brittany would be home. When she closed the door though she could hear sounds upstairs; she was there. "Brittany, get down here!" she called. There was no response at first, and she stopped at the bottom of the stairs with a sigh. For a split second she thought she heard two voices up there. She was about to call again, ask what was going on, then…

"Be right there!" Brittany called from up in her room. Sue frowned, but headed into her office to check and see if there were messages waiting. When she came back out, Brittany had come down, though she was looking out the window. She heard her mother though, and she turned back. "Hi."

"Someone up there?" Sue asked, and Brittany shook her head, tugging on the hem of her shirt, which was crooked.

"I was wrestling with the cat," she answered. Sue didn't say anything, just signalled for her to follow into the kitchen. Brittany nodded, though when her mother's back was turned she looked back out the window to see Santana had made it down safely and was dashing off.

They went and sat at the kitchen table, quiet for a moment; Brittany had no idea why she'd been called, and Sue didn't know how to start. Really though, there weren't many ways around it.

"I spoke to your father this morning," Sue told her, and Brittany sat up.

"You didn't yell at him, did you?" she begged.

"No, I didn't yell at him," Sue promised, and Brittany relaxed. "But we did talk about you, about how to proceed now that you know about him and I know that you know…" Brittany quietly nodded along like she was making sure she was keeping up with everything that was being said.

"And?" she asked, once she was all good and caught up.

"And we've made an arrangement, which would be the best arrangement for us, but if it's not alright with you, I…"

"What's the arrangement?" Brittany asked, and Sue sighed. She should have been happy, seeing how Brittany became once she told her about it, but really all she could feel were those same concerns all over again, the ones she'd had before she arrived back home.

"You'd live with me, but also with him. Every other week you'd stay with him, Monday to Friday. I'd drop you off on Sunday night and get you back Saturday morning. One week with me, one week with him, but I get the weekends. Do you understand?" Sue asked, looking back at Brittany.

"I get to live with them?" she asked, like she wanted to make sure she understood right before showing excitement. Sue nodded. "My own room?" she asked, and again Sue nodded. "What about the cat?"

"I haven't asked yet, but I'm sure it'll be fine." There was silence for a moment. "Anymore questions?"

"I… yeah… What happens to you when I'm gone?" Sue let out a breath… Yes, maybe they would be alright. "I don't want you to be all alone."

"I'll be fine," she promised. "We'll still see each other at school."

"I know, but…"

"Look, don't worry about me. The important here is that what your father and I want you to be happy. So whatever you choose, whatever you want, is what we'll go with."

"Really?" Brittany asked, still needing reassurance.

"Would I say it if I didn't mean it?" Sue asked her, and Brittany shook her head. Sue took her daughter's hands in hers, and found herself smiling at her. "All I want is for you to be happy. I know it hasn't been easy for you, not knowing him, and I know… that was because of me." Brittany tried to say something, but Sue shook her head. "No, it's true. But now… things are going to change, I swear to you." Brittany smiled back at her.

"Okay, but… before I start going over there…" she started to ask, and Sue nodded, letting her go on. "Can we go somewhere? Vacation? Like when I was a kid, not when you had competitions and you brought me along. You, me, together, and nothing else," she laid down her demand. Sue could well have smiled in a way she hadn't done… ever, though she tried to control herself.

"Yes, well… I think we can make that happen."

THE END

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>**********always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******** **


End file.
